Run, Garth! Run! Why did Red Bank's Garth Watson run across the country?

Somebody passing by in a car said, 'Those are some short shorts.'" - Garth Watson

Garth Watson returned to New Jersey a little tanner and about 15 pounds lighter on Monday.

It's to be expected. Watson crossed the state line in a jog over the Delaware River just before noon in the 93rd day of his coast-to-coast run to raise money for cancer research, a trek that is set to conclude in Central Park on Wednesday.

But there's something Watson, 24, didn't carry into his adopted state as his 2,700-mile journey draws to a close: a tale of adversity.

"I think the biggest surprise is how smoothly things have gone," Watson told NJ.com. "I expected something bad to happen along the way, like maybe a back injury or something. I've gotten lucky. My runs have gone well. It's almost been a little boring."

Yes, "boring." But minus those injuries and any setbacks over the next two days, he's easily going to beat his publicly stated goal to cover the country (150 days) and a goal he set in his own mind (100 days).

Watson, who ran track and cross country at Edinboro University in Pennsylvania, is often asked why he was interested in spending his entire summer traversing the continental United States.

"I just finished up school and haven't really gotten a full-time job," said Watson, who moved to Red Bank after graduating and put his job at a bagel shop on hold. "I didn't have family to worry about. I thought this was as good of a time as any."

There's no definitive list of coast-to-coast runners Watson is set to join, but it's not long. A few of those who have accomplished it did so in response to a tragic circumstance, but Watson points out that neither him nor those close to him have been stricken with cancer.

So, why Stand Up to Cancer?

"I've never been directly affected by cancer, but I known a lot of people who have been," Watson said. "It touches so many lives. I came across Stand Up to Cancer and I got inspired by everything they were doing in find innovative ways to fight it."

Watson, who made the journey with his father, Frank, driving a motorhome, has handed out hundreds of business cards that directed people to his efforts to raise money. Watson also heard plenty of stories along the way.

"I've come across a lot of people who fought cancer themselves or had loves ones who have," Watson said. "It affects so many people. It sucks. You can feel so helpless, like you can't do anything. This run is an attempt to do something."

Although he took a handful of days off, he usually broke his days up to three or four 10-mile runs with about a half-hour to hourlong break in between.

His iPod was packed with movie soundtracks along with his favorite comedy podcasts, including the Sklar Brothers' "Sklarbro Country" and "Sklarbro County" along with the "Comedy Bang Bang" and "Nerdist" podcasts.

Watson said he didn't encounter any "Run, Forrest! Run!" taunts as a nod to Tom Hanks' famed character who crisscrossed the country in the film "Forrest Gump."

"When you're running and driving by, people probably just thought I was out for a run," Watson said.

He did get one interesting shoutout, however, in Cleveland.

"Somebody passing by in a car said, 'Those are some short shorts,'" Watson relayed. "I didn't know if that was some sort of compliment or what."

Watson's last full day of running in a journey that began in Oceanside, Calif, on May 11 is Tuesday. (He spent Monday night in Hamburg.) He'll only have to run a few more miles after he stops somewhere in North Jersey on Tuesday night.

Watson will cross the George Washington Bridge in his 10th pair of Asics running shoes sometime on Wednesday before his journey ends near Tavern on the Green in Central Park.

His next run won't be too far off.

"It'd be a waste to run all these miles and just stop," Watson said. "I'm going to take a day or two off and then I'll keep running and working out. Maybe I'll try to do a marathon."